As historic floods hit Central Indiana the past several days, Morgan County residents waited.
They watched as devastating floods hit Cambridge City, New Castle and Anderson in the eastern part of the state late last week, before covering areas of Hamilton County in water. In Indianapolis, neighborhoods near the White River twists and turns found themselves underwater.
But sooner or later, the areas south of Indianapolis would feel the impact of the water flowing downstream in the overwhelmed White River.
“Obviously, we had been watching the news, watching the water kind of happen up north. Ultimately, we knew it was coming our way,” said Madison Township Fire Department Public Information Officer Brandon Perry.
On Sunday, Aug. 16, the rising waters hit Morgan County, where the White River snakes by Waverly, Mooresville and Martinsville. On the north side of the county, where Madison Township is located, flooding forced several residents to evacuate their homes. Some had not been able to return yet, as of Monday morning.
The first signs of severe flooding emerged from an urgent call to the fire department around 5 a.m. Sunday morning: A person needed to be rescued from their car on North Smokey Row Road, just north of Waverly, where about 1,200 people live.
The person in the car was rescued safely, but their vehicle remained more than 24 hours later, nearly completely submerged in water Monday morning.
Much of the county’s populous areas did not flood as the river reached a crest of more than 17 feet Monday morning.
About a mile away from the washed-out road and abandoned car, Sharon Crouch, 76, drove a minivan down a winding road, where puddles of water submerged parts of Centenary Road, including the roadway in front of her home since 1988. The night before, Crouch watched water seep in her house, which sits in a designated flood zone, and overpower more than 100 sandbags stacked up.
The garage flooded first, followed by two back rooms closest to the field out back that’s prone to flooding. Crouch moved a freezer up several feet in hopes of saving stashes of meat, but she thinks the food is likely ruined.
“It just, it came so fast,” Crouch said. “I’ve never had to leave my house.”
Roads nearby became impassable throughout the day Sunday. Crouch evacuated her home that night alongside her husband, John, their boxer, Sadie, and their adult daughter, who lives in the house next door, when the fire department knocked on their door with evacuation assistance by boat.
The fire department didn’t demand the Crouches leave, Sharon Crouch said, but once she heard news of the river’s levee breaking nearby, she made the choice to leave.
“When they said the levee broke, it scared the s— out of me,” Crouch said.
The MTFD later clarified on social media that, despite rumors, only a quarry levee gave way around 8 p.m. Sunday night, allowing water to flow into the nearby quarry, according to a Facebook post.
Perry estimated the fire department evacuated about 10 people from more than four dozen homes. The emergency shelter set up at the Morgan County Fairgrounds was quiet Monday morning, with no residents seeking shelter. Ten empty cots sat inside a white building. Some people, including the Crouches, stayed with family who live on higher ground.
In Johnson County, Greenwood’s Bluff Creek Golf Course, which sits atop a large hill overlooking the course down below, was overrun with water. Owner Steve Knieper said the golf course, which used to be farmland before Knieper built the course in 1997, sits in a natural floodplain and holes on the course were built elevated to avoid flooding. Yet, he said he has never seen flooding like what happened over the weekend, when up to two feet of water sat on the course.
As the water slowly recedes and he assesses the damage, Knieper said he remains positive much of the course can be salvaged.
“If we can make it through today, we can be all right,” he said.
Alysa Guffey writes business and development stories for IndyStar. Contact her at alysa.guffey@indystar.com.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Morgan County watched as the state flooded. Then, the water came south
Reporting by Alysa Guffey, Indianapolis Star / Indianapolis Star
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Alysa Guffey, Indianapolis Star | USA TODAY Network
